Fuel-feeding apparatus.



B. C. SMITH,

FUELFEEDING APPARATUS" APPLICATION FILED IUNE 29| ISIS.

1,287,964. A Patentedugfm, 1917.

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ifo aZZ/wkomvziL may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN C. SMITH,

a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Bayonne, Hudson county, New

Jersey, have invented a new and useful Fuel-Feeding Apparatus, of which thel following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements inf oil burning engines of the high compresion type wherein lthe fuel is injected into the cylinder at the kdesired period in the cycle thereof. My object is to provide a simple and eective means for. feeding fuel to the engine.

In the accompanying drawings: l.

Figure l is a vertical sectional view of the upper part of an engine cylinder, certain parts which are associated therewith being y shown conventionally.-

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary similar v iew showing certain parts in a dierent position.

It should be understood that the drawings are merely illustrative, and do notpretend to show exact proportions. Furthermore, the said drawings are illustrative of a preferred construction, it being .my expectation that various changes and modifications may be made without departingl from `the lspirit and scope of my invention.

In that form of the invention shown herein, l represents the upper part of an ordinary water jacketed cylinder. v2 represents a piston therein which is connected in the usual manner with tlievcranlr shaft, not shown. 3 represents the usual; water jacleted cylinder head. Il conventionally represents an air compressor which leads to a suitable air receiver, 5.. 6 -conventionally represents a fuel supply tank.' 'l' conventionally represents a fuel controlling means by vwhich the' vquantity of fuel from the tank 6 to the engine may be controlled, any suitable controlling means being employed. 8* represents a valve in the upper part of the cylinder past which the fuel may be forced at the proper time.

This valve is normally held seated or closed by means of a spring 9. l0 is a piston sleeve surrounding the stem of the valve 8. This piston sleeveis movable up and down in what I may term a plug 11 which ismounted in a bore in the cylinder head 3 and which may beheld in place in` any suitable manner as by bolts 12`.-12. yThe piston sleeve 10 may have suitable packing rings 13. The Stem of. the valve\8vs pro- Specication of Letters Patent.

vided nearrits'lower end -with a shoulder'l: ,against which the lower end yof the piston sleeve 10 may strike near the end of its downward movement to cause the valve 8 to open. The piston sleeve l0 is moved up and down. by the o eration of the engine through the medium o any suitable means operating Patenterl'Aug. 21V, 1917. Application sied .Tune 29, 191e. serial No. 106,550.

at the proper period and in the4 cycle of the engine. In this particular instance, resents an engine controlled rocker arm suitably connected -with the piston sleeve 10 to cause the latter to move up and down. 16 is an air duct leading from the compressor l5 repl" 4 through the receiver 5 -to the plug 11- Y wherein said duct has an opening at one side 'of the bore in which the piston sleeve 10 reciprocates, the said o ening occuring at approximately 17, where sleeve l0. is raised, it' will ing 17 and let compressed air into the space vbelow the piston. 18 is a fuel pipe leading from the supply 6 vthrough the controller 7 and into the plug 11, the said plug having al bore in communication with said pipe, whlch bore opens at the bottom of the bore in uncover the openy when the piston whichthe piston sleeve 10 .moves This opening for the fuel is indicated at 19. 20

is a suitable back check valve in the fuel'line. i

`21 conventionally represents an air inlet valve for the cylinder, which valve operates to admit air into the cylinder on the descent,

of the piston 2. The check valve 2O may be ofany desired type and may have a light spring 22 which may assist in closing the same at theproper -time. Thel plug 11, of course, should have a gas tight fit in the piston head, andone simple way vof securing said fit is to taper the lower end of the plug and to provide a correspondingly tapered seat in the lower end of the bore in 'the piston head in which said plug is located. The tapered seats may be provided with any suitable packing or may form a so-called ground joint.

Operation: With the parts in ythe position shown, itmay be assumed that the piston 2 is at or near the rtop of its stroke in cylinder 1, with the air in the cylinder-under substantially maximum compression, .at which4 time it is desirable that the fuel should be injected. The piston sleeve 10 is descending. It may be assumed that the space below the piston sleeve 10 contains very highly compressed air and a suitable volume of fuel. The slight further descent of the piston sleeve 1() will shift the latter from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 2, whereupon 'the valve 8 will be opened and the highly compressed air and fuel will be forced past the same into the space above the piston within the cylin# der. For this purpose it is obvious that the pressure of air in the pipe line 16 should be in excess of the pressure in the cylinder above the piston at the moment of injection, otherwise, of course, there would be no forceful feeding of the fuel into the space above the piston. The particular difference in pressure in the pipe line 16 and in the cylinder may vary under varying conditions, and, therefore, I do not wish to be limited in this respect, excepting in so far as it is understood that the air pressure in the pipe 16 should be sufficiently high-so that the air pressure under the piston Asleeve 10 when said air is admitted, plus the further increase in compression due to the descent of the piston sleeve 10, will be suiiicient to force the fuelpast the valve 8 into the Cylinder. When the piston sleeve l0 ascends, the valve 8 closes, and upon the ascent of said piston sleeve fuel through the pipe line 18 is delivered in the proper quantity to the space around-.the stem of the valve 8 and be-r low thefpiston sleeve 10. When the latter `,has ascended sufficiently high to uncover the air opening 17, another charge ofair is forced into the space below the piston sleeve 10 so that the new forced into the combustion chamber of the cylinder on the next descent of the piston sleeve 10, as before described. The check valve 20 prevents this high pressure from forcing back the fuel in the pipe line 1S durin the descent ofthe piston sleeve 10.'

ince my invention relates chiefly to the fuel feeding plug, as I may term it, it is obvious that the 'said invention should not be limited to an engine of either the four cycle or the two cycle type, since it can be employed successfully with either, although for the purposes of this application, I have it associated with an engine which may be assumed to be of the four cycle variety. I have not shown the usual exhaustvalve, the construction and operation of such a valve being too well known to require illustration, and constituting no part of this invention.

It will be understood that any suitable means or method may be employed for operating the valve 8. In some instances the pressure in the bore on the feeding stroke of the piston l0 might be suflicient to cause said valve to unseat against the pressure in the working cylinder 1 before the piston 10 reaches the shoulder 14, but when itis desired to provide means for positively insuring the opening of the valve, additional means may `loe employed, su i as the shoulder 14 designed to be engaged just becharge of fuel will be fore the piston 10 reaches its full forward movement.

What I claim is:

1. In a fuel feeding apparatus for internal Avalve to open the latter.

2. In a fuel feeding apparatus for internal combustion engines, an engine driven fuel feeding piston, a. mounting therefor having a bore in which said piston reciprocates, a fuel feeding passage arranged to -lead from said bore toan engine cylinder, a

valve for said passage with means for closing the same, a compressed air inlet in said mounting leading into said bore adjacent to the end of the fuel feeding piston at the back of its stroke, a fuel feeding inlet into said bore between said compressed air inlet and said valve, said lpiston copcrating with said valve to open the latter, with means for forcing compressed air into said bore through said air inlet when the fuel feeding piston is at the back of its stroke.

3. In a fuel feeding apparatus for internal combustion engines, an engine driven fuel feeding piston, a mounting therefor having a bore in which said piston reciprocates, a fuel feeding passage arranged to lead from said bore to an engine cylinder, a valve for said passage with means for closing the same, a compressed air inlet yin said mounting leading into said bore adjacent to the end of the fuel feeding piston at the back of its stroke, a fuel feeding inlet into said boro between said compressed air inlet and said valve, with means for feeding fuel through the fuel inlet into said bore, while said fuel feeding piston is retracted, said valve being opened by pressure applied to the same from within the bore. f

4. In a fuel feeding apparatus for internal combustion engines, an engine driven fuel feeding piston, a mounting therefrn' having a bore in which said piston reciprocates, a fuel feeding passage arranged to lead from said bore to an engine cylinder, a valve for said passage with means for closing the same, a compressed air inlet in said mounting leading into said bore adjacent to the end of the fuel feeding piston at the back of its stroke, a fuel feeding inlet into said bore between said compressed air inlet and said valve, said fuel feeding piston coperating with said valve to open the same .near the end lof its forward or feeding for said passage with means for closing the same, a compressed air inlet in said mounting leading into said end of the fuel feeding of its stroke, a fuel feeding inlet into said bore between said compressed air inlet and said valve, said. fuel feeding piston coperating the end of its forward or 'feeding stroke, said valve having a shoulder against which said piston engages before it reaches the end'of its forward stroke. 1

6. In a fuel feeding apparatus for internal combustion engines, an engine driven fuel feeding piston, a mounting-therefor, having a bore in which said piston reciprocates, a. passage through a valve for ,the lower end of s aid bore, the stem of .the valve passing throughthe bore inthe piston with means for normally causing 'said valv'e to close the outlet at the fuel discharge end of the bore, a compressed air inlet leading through said ,f mounting and into the bore thereof adjacent to the end of the piston when the latter is retracted, a fuel feeding inlet into said bore located between the air inlet and said valve, saidyalve. of .movementi of v opening in the direction sald piston on lts compression-stroke.

7. In a fuel feeding apparatus for internal' combustion engines, an engine -driven fuel feeding piston, a mounting therefor, having a bore in which said piston reciprocates, a pasasge through said fuel feeding piston, a

valve forthe lower end of said bore, .the Vstem of the valve passing through the bore lin the piston with means .for normally causing said valve to close the outlet at the fuel discharge end of' the bordje.- compressed air inlet leading throughfsaid Amounting and into the bore thereof adjacent to the endv ofthe piston when the latter is retracted, a fuel feeding inlet located etween the yair inlet and said valve, means for feeding oompressed air through the compressed air inlet When the fuel feeding piston is re4 and means for feeding fuel through the fuel bore adjacent to the piston at the back,

with said valve to open the same near said lfuel feeding piston,

'inlet into said bore while said piston being retracted, said piston operating to open said valv near the end of its compression stroke.y

' 8. In combustion engines,

feeding piston, a 'bore in which said piston reoiprocates, a. passage through said fuel feeding piston, a valve for the lower'end of said bore, the stem of the valve passing through the bore an engine driven fuel a fuel feeding apparatus for internal f a mountingtherefor, having inthe piston with ineans for4 normally causingsaid valve to close the outlet at the fuel fcschar'qe end of the bore, a compressed air inlet "Iadingl through said mounting and into'the/ bore thereof adjacent to the end of the piston when the latter is retracted, a fuel feeding inlet located betweenthe air inlet and said valve, meansfor feeding compressed ;air. through the/ compressed air inlet .when the fuel feeding piston is retracted, and ymeans for feeding fuel through the'uel-inlet into said bore while said piston is being retracted, and a check valve in the fuel passage.

9. In a fuel feeding apparatus for internal combustion engines, a working cylinder, a working piston therein, a fuel feeding valve, a mounting therefor having a bore to snugly receive said fuel feeding piston, and a conimunieating passage between said bore and the interior of the working cylinder above the piston, a valve for said passage normally closed, a compressed air -inlet communicating the endof the fuel feeding piston at the end of its back stroke, through said mounting and into said bore near the discharge end thereof, with means for forcing compressed air through the air inlet when the piston is retracted, and means for feeding fuel through the fuel passage when said fuel feeding piston is retracted, the air passageand the fuel passage being closed o n the forward or feeding stroke of said'fuel feeding piston, a spring for holding said valve closed during part of the for/ BENJAMIN C. SMI'PPT with said bore at a point near' a fuel inlet leading 

